ROUTE 66 NHRA NATIONALS RACE RECAP

“We struggle a little bit in qualifying, knocking the tires off two of the qualifying rounds. But one thing I’ll say about Mike [Knudsen] is he adapts well. I was kind of patting him on the back about the adaptability, coming out here first round, and not knocking the tires off and going down the racetrack. Unfortunately, in the semifinals, it just had a hole out down there. I also didn’t have a great light, if I’d had a .70 light, we’d win that round. So combination of everything, and a .90 light is, I guess it’s okay, but it’s not cutting it, you know what I mean?

“That being said, still having fun driving. I mean, that Dodge Funny Car was sucking me hard inside, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I got enough real estate to kind of keep it there, but we’re gonna try it.’ you get over there kind of close to the cones and your butt draws up a little bit, ‘did I hit it or did I not?’ At the end of the day, that’s why they’re fun to drive, you know? The guys did really good as far as adapting to the situation, the racetrack. Anytime we go some rounds, it’s always great. I think at least we kept close to the top of the points and we just have to keep that positive momentum and that thought process moving forward. We got a good group and Mike’s had 15 years under Dickie [Venables] (former crew chief), but he’s still learning. I think he’s doing a tremendous job and Phil [Shuler] and Alex [Conaway], they all work great together. So I’m excited every day to show up. Obviously we want to put this Dodge in the winners circle, but there’s a lot more racing to do.”​